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A lot of the online games Elian plays on the computer are rated on a scale from one to five stars. Because of this, he has recently become increasingly interested in the star rating system. So much so that he chooses to rate many elements of his life: his teachers, his friends, his cousins and yes, his Mama and Papa (we're SIXES, baby! Woohoo!). He is very scientific about the rating and will often explain why someone might get fewer than five stars. This explanation is often very humorous (probably not for the person who does not receive the five-star rating).

Every night the "good-nighter" (the person who does not do the bathing and the book reading but comes up after and says goodnight) gets to play a game with his dogs Friday and Romeo. This game could be baseball, it could be miniature golf, it could be "real" golf or it could be a game of huckle-buckle-beanstalk (don't tell me you don't know what that is!). I happen to be the good-nighter on my birthday. So I came up to his room, all ready to get Friday, my dog for the game. Elian always takes Romeo and Ed or I get Friday because, you see, Friday's a little rude (a blog entry in itself). But not this time. No, this time instead he hands me Romeo and says, "Here Mama, you can have the five-star dog because it's your birthday."